Swimming

Professional swimmers use 20% of their legs. As a triathlete, I need to use only 10% of my legs mainly for balance and buoyancy.

I’m lean and need to breathe every third stroke so I hold the air in my lungs longer which should give me more buoyancy

Exhale, pushing the air out on the second stroke. Make sure you empty the lungs completely before the inhale.

With my tendency to think a lot, swimming in a group will help me to get out of my head and focus on the workout.

There is nothing critically wrong with my current technique. Improving my breathing will give me a lot of speed.

Coaching feedback Bruce:

To begin you have a good turn over and body position in the water.

1. Your kick it should be more from the hips than from the knees. This will keep you more streamlined and get you more power in your stroke. Vertical kicking drill will help and as you get better raising your hands above the water will make you stronger. Also your toes should be pointed.

2. Both of your arms/hands should get up on the eye level box right away as you start your pull. This will give you a better anchor to pull yourself forward. When you watch your arms the right pushes straight down then starts to anchor in the water, while the left drives deep before you rotate to anchor your forearm. A high elbow catch will help along with pull-ups.

3. Both arms finish about your swim suite. You should be finishing farther down the front of your thighs. Think of patting a small child on the top of their head then pushing them behind you with a hand flick.

4. When you breathe start to exhale right away because trying to exhale as you turn to inhale doesn’t give you a good exchange.